"Dead man's nothin' but a corpse. No one cares who he is now."
The Steel Helmet (1951) is Samuel Fuller's third movie, presaging his more expansive war films like The Big Red One (1980). Made on a shoestring budget with a non-star cast, it's remarkably effective.Early in the Korean War, Sergeant Zack (Gene Evans) survives the massacre of his patrol. He stumbles across Korean orphan Short Round (William Chun), medic Corporal Thompson (James Edwards) and a squad led by Lieutenant Driscoll (Steve Brodie). Zack reluctantly tags along with the latter, helping them establish an observation post at an abandoned Buddhist temple. The men bicker amongst each other as Communist troops close in.
Few films better capture Fuller's unique sensibility than Helmet. Eschewing strict realism, it's a piece of authentic pulp. Fuller sprinkles the script with laconic dialog and soldiers' argot ("If you die, I'll kill ya!") that redeems familiar elements. Zack is a no-nonsense WWII vet, bristling with beard, chewing a cigar and bickering with the shave tail Driscoll, who chokes in battle and nearly frags himself. Profane and insubordinate, he's a tough, dependable survivor - the archetypical American GI.
Driscoll's platoon offers a cross section of types, from the black Thompson to the Japanese-American Tanaka (Richard Loo), who harbors memories of internment camps. Their infighting is mostly personal; casual slurs (Zack calls Tanaka "Buddha head") matter less than survival. Resentment surfaces when the squad captures a North Korean (Harold Fong) who baits Thompson and Tanaka. Fuller's films often tackled weighty issues, but Helmet's primarily concerned with the camaraderie of infantrymen, regardless of color. Here, only Commies stir up trouble.
Fuller builds his characters within a remarkable setting. Thanks to budget restrictions, most of the film's shot on a backlot, with a cramped, shadowy jungle and a spacious temple set, with brief exteriors and stock footage. Fuller stages action with blunt brutality as Zack battles snipers or a booby trap kills a hapless soldier. Helmet's very talky, but the clipped dialog and gunfights keep things moving briskly.
Gene Evans provides a gruff, authentic antihero: short-tempered and vulgar, with grudging loyalty and a private streak of sentiment. James Edwards and Steve Brodie both starred in Home of the Brave and fare better without the Stanley Kramer baggage. Richard Loo offers a good-humored yet tough performance, with comedian Sid Melton playing a near-silent supply officer and Richard Monahan a bald-headed private. Robert Hutton is a conscientious objector who trades an organ for a machine gun.
The Steel Helmet ends on an equivocal note, with Zack's men victorious but marching towards another fight. Fuller dedicates the film to infantrymen, appreciating loyal grunts who fight bravely, without reward or recognition regardless of the conflict.